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French Catholic board says province contravening Charter over school

Education Minister Liz Sandals expressed little sympathy Tuesday for a Hamilton French-language high school that has windowless classrooms and no yard.

“It was their decision to acquire that particular school,” she told reporters at Queen’s Park, referring to the French Catholic school board for south central Ontario that announced it is suing the province on constitutional grounds.

Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud, which covers a large swath of the province, is launching a
lawsuit
, claiming the physical conditions at Hamilton’s École secondaire Académie catholique Mère-Teresa violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“It’s unconstitutional. Absolutely. There is no doubt,” said Mark Power, lawyer for the board, told the Star, noting Section 23 of the Charter requires that French-language schools be afforded the same amenities as English-speaking schools.

Power said he will be filing the lawsuit next week.

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Sandals told reporters that if École secondaire Académie catholique Mère-Teresa — a public school board castoff — is so bad, why did the board take it over the in the first place and why didn’t the board make it a capital priority.

“We understand that they would like to buy a property that currently belongs to the Hamilton-Wentworth School Board and we have told them if they agree on a price with the other board that we actually would expedite the funding for the purchase of the property,” she told reporters.

The French-language high school, which now has about 235 students, began classes in the former elementary school on a temporary basis 15 years ago. It has some classrooms with no windows, a small gym, and no yard.

“I don’t know why they chose to acquire that particular school . . . but they do have a school and there is room for 405 kids,” Sandals said.

The minister added that her ministry has provided $187 million in capital for the board “for their top priorities” over the past 10 years.

Nathalie Dufour-Séguin, head of the French Catholic board, said the former elementary school was never meant to be permanent.

“There are no laboratories, the gym is meant for an elementary school, there is no soundproofing, there are no windows in most of the classes . . . it is not suitable,” she said in an interview.

Power said the board has been asking for money from the province to buy a site and build a new high school for years “and it has essentially decided that they can’t wait anymore, partly because enrolment has started to decrease.”

He said based on the school’s catchment area — Hamilton-Niagara, Norfolk and Brantford — there should be 800 to 900 French-speaking Catholic students.

“I have never heard of a single high school in Ontario with no schoolyard . . . or without windows,” Power said.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said her party has been warning for the past decade that the ministry’s funding formula has not been meeting the needs for school boards or the students they serve.

“It’s a sad day when a school board actually has to file papers in court to sue the provincial government because kids have inadequate facilities in which to learn,” Horwath said.

Tory MPP Rob Leone said the situation is simply not conducive to student learning.

Correction - November 21, 2013
: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly included a photo of the wrong school.

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